Appeal No. 1998-0842
Application No. 08/536,350
Olivo discloses a catalytic converter/muffler for use in the
exhaust system of a vehicle having an internal combustion engine
(col. 4, lines 65 and 66), the device being mounted horizontally
in a car or light-duty truck and having a flared scoop 40 which
funnels ambient air (including pollutants) to the converter
(col. 5, lines 44 to 53).
Remand to the Examiner
Claims 1 to 11 include eight independent claims of varying
scope. Notwithstanding this, the examiner has treated all the
claims together, even though they do not all require a catalytic
converter surrounding the exhaust manifold, and may be amenable
to rejection on other references of record; see, for example, our
rejection of claim 4, supra.
Accordingly, this application is remanded to the examiner to
consider the limitations of each claim separately, and determine
whether or not each claim should be rejected as unpatentable over
prior art of record, and/or other prior art. In perusing the
prior art of record, we note that:
(1) Stevenson, Shimozi et al., Smith et al., Tadokoro et al. and
Olivo disclose introducing ambient air into a catalytic
converter, and may be pertinent to claims such as claims 5 to 8;
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